Should I gamble? You ask yourself this question over and again. Maybe it’s because the people around you gamble. You see the excitement on their faces; the games thrills them. Although you would like to join, you have heard many negative things about gambling. This stops you in your tracks. You never want to experience the negative parts and so wonder why people gamble despite all that information out there. Yet, you can’t help but wish you could. So, you watch them from afar as they bet happily.
Should I gamble? This article will share with you reasons you should gamble and why you should not.
Why You Should Gamble
- To Entertain Yourself
There is no denying that gambling offers some good entertainment. It is indeed a fun activity to engage in. Truly, gambling involves spending some money. However, there are games where you don’t have to place much before you can indulge in them. There are casino games on the Internet that offer bets as low as a dollar, for instance. Why, most of these Internet casino games have their free versions.
If you are too shy to gamble physically, you can always find online betting games to participate in. You can stake small, or play for free while having a good time.
- Opportunity To Win Money
Gambling presents you the opportunity to win money whether small or plenty. Truly, people lose money to gambling but there are rules to help you win. If it is a one-time thing for you, you shouldn’t worry about losing. However, gambling can be quite addictive and you may want to return to bet to win. Here’s how you can do that. First of all, you should familiarise yourself with the game’s rules. Secondly, stake small. Never place huge stakes in the hope of winning plenty. That would be a huge mistake on your part, no kidding. In addition to this, there are games where you have a fifty to seventy percent chance of winning. These games include sports betting, poker, blackjack among others.
What is more exciting than betting and coming out a few dollars richer?
- Other Gifts To Win
Gambling isn’t only about winning money, there are exciting gifts that come with it. These gifts include travel tickets to fabulous places that you can only dream of. Yes, not everyone gets to win something this huge but who says you can’t be that lucky person? However, some people have had their lives change for the better by winning some of these prizes. Indeed, you may be lucky if you join that train.
- To Develop Your Mental Capacity
Very few people see it this way but gambling helps to develop your mental capacity. How? you may wonder. Well, studying and analyzing games is no simple work. Your brain is actively trying to figure out what odds are in your favour. If this doesn’t stimulate the brain, what else does? Also, gambling deals with mathematics. You are always adding, subtracting, and multiplying figures up in your head. This is a good skill that will also help you in other aspects of your life. It means unlike others, you don’t have to get a calculator first to get the total of figures.
Now that the reasons you should gamble have been highlighted, what are the negative aspects of gambling?
Why You Should Not Gamble
Get-Rich-Quick-Scheme/Money Doubling
You may have heard many stories of people who gambled once and made it immediately. Unfortunately, for everyone in a hundred people who is lucky in gambling, there are ninety-nine others who are not. Never use gambling as a get-rich-quick scheme. You may just happen to find yourself among the ninety-nine unlucky people and this will not be good for you.
Also, don’t use gambling as money-doubling means. Understandably, you may be facing hard times that require more money than you currently have. No matter what, resist the temptation to use gambling to double your money. As gamblers would say, never place bets with money you can’t afford to lose.
Indeed, gambling can be fun and entertaining with the promise of winning big.
Unfortunately, it can be addictive and this may lead to problem gambling. Problem gambling happens in different ways:
- It Starts With Losing or Winning Money
The journey to problem gambling starts with losing or even winning money. You place your first bet and lose. As expected, you feel bad for this and the human nature in you wants to continue playing to prove that you’re not a loser. So, you bet again and again until you lose all your money. Still, you convince yourself that tomorrow may be a better day and you return to play again.
Problem gambling could even start with you winning money. If you were lucky to win, you may convince yourself that you can win again. You place bets and yes, you may even be on a winning streak. However, sooner or later, your luck turns and you start to lose.
Very few people exercise self-restraint when they gamble. This is why there are more problem gamblers than professional players in this field.
- You Start To Borrow
Problem gambling does not stop at winning or losing your games. When you continue playing, you start putting in more money. This money could come from your credit account or from other expenses you delegated the money to. Of course, you promise yourself you will only take a bit at first. Yet, bits turn to huge chunks, and before you know it you have been reduced to a penniless state.
However, it does not stop there. Problem gambling pushed you to start borrowing. You ask people for loans you can’t repay. All these you do in the hopes of hitting the jackpot one day.
- The Problems Don’t End
It does not stop at borrowing. You may even be tempted to steal money from your family or at work. Movies usually depict gamblers stealing to bet. This is not entirely untrue. Oftentimes, once started, the urge to gamble doesn’t go away. Apart from stealing, problem gambling could lead to depression and ultimately, suicide. It would take the intervention of therapists to prevent you from falling into that.
There are many reasons people don’t gamble. Here are some of them:
- Religious Reasons
In these modern times, the concept of religion is very much prevalent. Thus, many people do things considering their religion and that includes gambling. For instance, popular religions like Christianity and Islam strictly prohibit their followers from gambling. Christians believe that gambling promotes excessive love of money and that can be dangerous to the faith. Also, they believe it promotes laziness as all you do is make guesses to win money.
In Islam, the Qu-‘ran is just as strict with rules against gambling. It considers gambling a sin that destroys the player. In Islam, gambling is known as Maisir.
Buddhism is one of the few religions that are quite liberal towards gambling. Buddhism allows its followers to place bets howbeit they denounce addictive gambling.
- Societal Perception
Many people don’t gamble because of how society perceives gamblers. Indeed, the world today accepts gambling when compared to past times. To this effect, some offices allow workers to place bets; there are world poker tournaments; casino games are available on the Internet amongst others. Why, people take gambling as a profession these days. Despite these, society at large still perceives gambling as an irresponsible activity by irresponsible people. So, people fear gambling because they don’t want others to look down on them. Also, even though there are professional gamblers, it still doesn’t sound proper to introduce yourself as one. Indeed, society isolates those who gamble frequently most especially problem gamblers.
- Very Few People Win
Another reason people don’t gamble is that very few people win. As it is known, gambling is a game of luck. If you win, you’re termed a lucky person. If you lose, well, people consider losing as part of the game more often than not. Only a few people hit the jackpot and make it in gambling. Gambling houses design their games so they gain the money people lose. So, people don’t gamble because they’d rather have their money all safe and sound in their pockets.
Conclusion
Should I gamble? The answer depends on you for the ball is in your court. No one can decide for you. If you think you can bet without getting addicted to it, then go ahead and do so. If you think otherwise, then it’s best to just watch others gamble from afar.
